A guy from the Heights

Lin-Manuel Miranda wants to know if anyone in L.A. rides the subway: “Driving is kind of lost time, you know?”

Hands-free travel works for the hip-hop composer, who wrote most of his Tony-winning musical “In the Heights” sandwiched between fellow New Yorkers on the A train.

Now Angelenos can take the Red Line to Hollywood and Vine — or just the 101 — to see the creator, composer-lyricist and star of “In the Heights” reprising his leading role in Broadway’s hit mash-up of hip-hop, salsa and street-level heart.

Miranda takes the stage at the Pantages Theatre through July 25, but while he’s in town, he is also working with director Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical,” “Michael Jackson’s This Is It”) on a film version of “Heights” set to begin shooting in early 2011.

The 30-year-old has spent little time in L.A. but knows it well — at least from a game console.

“Last time I was here, I picked my fiancée up from LAX and our GPS took us on a circuitous route,” Miranda said, joking that the two “fell in love over ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.’ So as we were driving through South Central, I looked around and thought, ‘I’ve been here before. I started a gang on that ravine.’ Weirdly I already have a sense memory of L.A.”

It’s been a dizzying two years, which included a Tony for best musical on Broadway, a guest starring role on “House,” a movie deal for “Heights” and a visit to the White House. Of his memorable rap acceptance speech at the Tonys, Miranda remembers, “I just closed my eyes and grabbed my brain: ‘OK, this is going to be on the highlight reel when I’m about to die.’ ”

From the show’s first spark to an onstage hug from Whoopi Goldberg was an eight-year journey. “Heights” began in 2000 as a workshop during Miranda’s sophomore year at Wesleyan University, catching the attention of a young director named Thomas Kail. A few years later, juggling jobs as a teacher and composer of music for Eliot Spitzer’s political commercials, Miranda hunkered down and rewrote the show. Five times. Only one song from the original workshop remained in the 2008 Broadway premiere.

“My adult life has been spent writing this show,” says Miranda by telephone from Tempe, Ariz., where he was rehearsing the show. “So it’ll be a joy to perform it in L.A. without any pressure. Plus my fiancée is back in New York studying for the bar, so she wanted me out from underfoot.”

The musical is set in Washington Heights, a Latino enclave in Upper Manhattan teeming with graffiti artists, hairdressers, close-knit families and bodega owner Usnavi, played by Miranda. Raised by his adoptive grandmother, Usnavi dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic, his late parents’ country.

“Heights” celebrates the immigrant’s search for an authentic home. “When people come up to me after a show, they don’t say, ‘You were great,’” explains Miranda, who is of Puerto Rican heritage. “They say, ‘My grandmother came from Cuba.’ Or Poland. Or Mexico. It’s a universal story, parents sacrificing so their children can have a better life.”

But the show also brought something new to Broadway: Miranda’s razor sharp lyrics combined with the latest urban dance — from Los Angeles.

“I came to L.A. three times to research hip-hop,” says Andy Blankenbuehler, the show’s Tony-winning choreographer. “I took four hours of classes a day with people like David Moore and Marty Kudelka. Their moves are so tight, it’s almost like sign language; and that’s what Lin’s lyrics needed because they’re so electric, so descriptive. There had to be silence around movement so the audience can process Lin’s words.”

Miranda believes older theatergoers accept the production’s hip-hop “because, like all the other styles of music in the show, it’s in the service of storytelling. Usnavi and his friends express themselves through hip-hop, but his abuela sings it old school.”

Miranda, who learned his moves as part of an improv group called Freestyle Love Supreme, is having a ball working with Ortega to translate the show’s hyper-caffeinated energy to film. “Kenny basically choreographed my childhood,” says Miranda. “Somewhere back in my old room there’s a video of me dancing to ‘Footloose.’”

Ortega says he saw “Heights” six times before he heard it was going to be a movie. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen anything with this kind of impact. Every age, every nationality — audiences were going crazy.”

Miranda also worked with Stephen Sondheim on the 2009 revival of “West Side Story,” translating the lyrics of several songs into Spanish. “I Feel Pretty” was fun, but in a Sharks versus Jets call-and-response section, Miranda had to rhyme Spanish with English: “It was like doing the hardest crossword puzzle ever.” Hot tip for Sondheim groupies: “I’m reading the galleys of his latest book,” Miranda said. “Everyone’s brain is going explode. Stephen tells amazing stories about his own songs, and also what he thinks of other lyricists. Who he likes and who he doesn’t. It’s like Zeus throwing thunderbolts.”

Then there was that recent trip to the White House, where Miranda performed a rap about Alexander Hamilton a few feet from President Obama. Was he nervous? “All I can say is, don’t look him in the eye. If you watch it on YouTube, you can see me trying to talk to [the Obamas] and just stuttering. I had to look over their heads to remember what I was doing. Then I’m like, oh, James Earl Jones is here. Deep! Also it was the first time I performed that song in public, so part of me was thinking, ‘Is this even any good?’ ”

“The Hamilton Mixtape” is part of Miranda’s new round of songwriting, which includes “Bring It On,” a musical based on the cheerleader film franchise, penned with “Avenue Q’s” Jeff Witty, among others. Inspiration is easy. For “Hamilton,” he says, “ ‘Evita’ and ‘Assassins’ are my twin totem poles. For ‘Bring It On,’ I’m entirely at the service of Andy [Blankenbuehler], who’s creating unbelievable choreography integrated with cheer routines.”

Sue Sylvester, watch your back.

calendar@latimes.com